LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT

PARLIAMENT LIBRARY AND REFERENCE, RESEARCH, DOCUMENTATION

AND INFORMATION SERVICE (LARRDIS)

MEMBERS REFERENCE SERVICE

REFERENCE NOTE .
No.10/RN/Ref./2013
For the use of Members of Parliament

Not for Publication

Child Labour

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The reference material is for personal use of the Members in the discharge of their Parliamentary duties,
and is not for publication. This Service is not to be quoted as the source of the information as it is based
on the sources indicated at the end/in the text. This Service does not accept any responsibility for the
accuracy or veracity of the information or views contained in the note/collection.

Child Labour

Introduction
Children are the greatest gift to humanity and Childhood is an important and
impressionable stage of human development as it holds the potential to the future
development of any society. Children who are brought up in an environment, which is
conducive to their intellectual, physical and social health, grow up to be responsible and
productive members of society. Every nation links its future with the present status of its
children. By performing work when they are too young for the task, children unduly
reduce their present welfare or their future income earning capabilities, either by
shrinking their future external choice sets or by reducing their own future individual
productive capabilities. Under extreme economic distress, children are forced to forego
educational opportunities and take up jobs which are mostly exploitative as they are
usually underpaid and engaged in hazardous conditions. Parents decide to send their
child for engaging in a job as a desperate measure due to poor economic conditions. It
is, therefore, no wonder that the poor households predominantly send their children to
work in early ages of their life. One of the disconcerting aspects of child labour is that
children are sent to work at the expense of education. There is a strong effect of child
labour on school attendance rates and the length of a childs work day is negatively
associated with his or her capacity to attend school. Child labour restricts the right of
children to access and benefit from education and denies the fundamental opportunity
to attend school. Child labour, thus, prejudices childrens education and adversely
affects their health and safety1.

Magnitude of Child Labour in India

The magnitude of child labour in India has been witnessing enormous decline in
the last two decades, both in terms of magnitude and workforce participation rates.
1

Government of India, Planning Commission, Working Group for Social inclusion of Vulnerable Group
th
like Child Labour and Bonded and Migrant Labour in the 12 Five Year Plan (2012-17)

-2Evidence drawn from the National Sample Survey data suggest that Indias child
workforce during 2004-05 was estimated at little over nine million (9.07 million) as
against twenty-one and half million (21.55 million) in 1983. During this period, the
number of child employment has declined sharply by 12.48 million. There is
considerable fall in child workforce is observed among boys than girls. The
corresponding fall in boys and girls workforce during 1983 to 2004- 05 is observed to
have decreased from 12.06 to 4.76 million, and 9.49 to 4.31 million, respectively. In
effect, the gender difference that existed between boys and girls (adverse against boys)
during the early 1980s has almost dissipated in recent years, the difference being
slowed down from 2.57 million to roughly 0.45 million. However, in absolute numbers,
the problem is large. As per the Census 2001, there are 1.26 crores economically active
children in the age-group of 5-14 years. It was 1.13 crores in the 1991 Census2.
As per NSSO survey 2009-10, the working children are estimated at 49.84 lakh
which shows a declining trend. As per the Global Report on Child Labour published by
International Labour Organization last year, the activity rate of children in the age group
of 5-14 years is 5.1 per cent in Latin America and Caribbean Region, which is the
lowest in the world. In the Asia-Pacific Region, it is 18.8 per cent. In comparison to that,
the activity rate of children in India, as per 2001 census is 5 per cent3.
State-wise details of working children as per NSSO Survey 2009-10 are at
Annexure-I.

Government Initiatives
Child Labour and Constitutional Provisions
The framers of the Constitution of India deemed it necessary to include special
provisions in the Constitution for the protection of the rights of working children4.

Ibid
India, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Annual Report 2012-13, p. 91
4
Problems of Child Labour in India by Raj Kumar Sen and Asis Das Gupta (Editors), 2003
3

-3-

Article

Title

Description

21A

Right to Education

The State shall provide free and

compulsory education to all children of
the age of 6 to 14 years in such manner
as the State, by law, may determine.

24

No child below the age fourteen years

Prohibition of Employment shall be employed in work in any factory
of Childrens in Factories or mine or engaged in any other
hazardous employment.

39

That the health and strength of workers,

men and women, and the tender age of
children are not abused and that citizens
are not forced by economic necessity to
enter avocations unsuited to their age or
strength5

The state shall in

Particular direct its policy
towards securing

Legislation for Child Labour in India

The first protective legislation for child labour in India was seen in 1881 in the
form if Indian factories Act which had the provisions prohibiting employment of children
below 7 years, limiting the working hours for children to 9 hours a day and providing 4
holidays in a month and rest hours. This was actually made by the ruling British
Government to decrease the production in Indian industries through some legal
restrictions.
It may be submitted that the labour legislations in India including protective
legislation for children have been greatly influenced with the result of various
Conventions and Recommendations adopted by International Labour Organisation.
Besides Constitutional provisions, there are several legislative enactments which
provide legal protection to children in various occupations.

http://labour.nic.in

-4

The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933

The Employment of Children Act, 1938

The Minimum Wages, Act 1948 and rules made thereunder by the government

The Factories Act, 1948

The Plantations Labour Act, 1951

The Mines Act, 1952

The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958

The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961

The Apprentices Act, 1961

The Atomic Energy Act, 1962

The Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966

The Shops and Establishment Act in Various States, and

Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 19866

Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (1986) was the culmination of
efforts and ideas that emerged from the deliberations and recommendations of various
committees on child labour. Significant among them were the National Commission on
Labour (1966-1969), the Gurupadaswamy Committee on Child Labour (1979) and the
Sanat Mehta Committee (1984). The Act aims to prohibit the entry of children into
hazardous occupations and to regulate the services of children in non-hazardous
occupations. In particular it is aimed at (i) the banning of the employment of children, i.e.
those who have not completed their 14th year, in 18 specified occupations and 65
processes; (ii) laying down a procedure to make additions to the schedule of banned
occupations or processes; (iii) regulating the working conditions of children in
occupations where they are not prohibited from working; (iv) laying down penalties for
employment of children in violation of the provisions of this Act and other Acts which
forbid the employment of children; (v)bringing uniformity in the definition of the child in
related laws7.
6

Child Labour in India Rights, Welfare and Protection by Dipak Das, 2011
Government of India, Planning Commission, Working Group for Social inclusion of Vulnerable Group
th
like Child Labour and Bonded and Migrant Labour in the 12 Five Year Plan (2012-17)
7

-5List of occupations and processes prohibited under the Act are given in
(Annexure-II).
The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation Amendment Bill, 2012 was
introduced in Rajya Sabha on 4 December, 2012 further to amend the Child Labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986. The amendment also seeks a blanket ban on
employing children below 18 years in hazardous industries like mining. The Bill is
referred to Standing Committee on Labour and Employment8.

Enforcement Figures on Child Labour

As per the data received from various States, the details of inspections carried
out, prosecutions launched, convictions made under the Child Labour Act during the last
five years and current year are given as under9:
Year

No. of
Inspections

No. of
No. of
Prosecutions Convictions

2007

363927

12705

12705 617

2008

355629

11318

763

2009

317083

11418

1312

2010

239612

8998

1308

2011

84935

4590

774

2012**

25040

589

167

** The information yet to be received from many States.

Judicial Efforts towards the Problem of Child Labour

On 10th December 1996 in Writ Petition (Civil) No.465/1986 on MC Mehta verses
State of Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court of India, gave certain directions on the issue of
elimination of child labour. The main features of judgment are as under:
8
9

The Assam Tribune, Guwahati dated 2.1.2013

Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1347 dated 5.12.2012

-6

Survey for identification of working children;

Withdrawal of children working in hazardous industry and ensuring their

education in appropriate institutions;

Contribution @ Rs.20,000/- per child to be paid by the offending employers of

children to a welfare fund to be established for this purpose;

Employment to one adult member of the family of the child so withdrawn from
work and it that is not possible a contribution of Rs.5,000/- to the welfare fund to
be made by the State Government;

Financial assistance to the families of the children so withdrawn to be paid -out of

the interest earnings on the corpus of Rs.20,000/25,000 deposited in the welfare
fund as long as the child is actually sent to the schools;

Regulating hours of work for children working in non-hazardous occupations so

that their working hours do not exceed six hours per day and education for at
least two hours is ensured. The entire expenditure on education is to be borne by
the concerned employer.
The implementation of the direction of the Honble Supreme Court is being

monitored by the Ministry of Labour and compliance of the directions have been
reported in the form of Affidavits on 05.12.97, 21.12.1999, 04.12.2000, 04.07.2001 and
04-12-2003 to the Honble Court on the basis of the information received from the
State/UT Governments10.

National Child Labour Policy

Constitutional and legislative provisions providing protection to children against
employment has been elaborated in the National Child Labour Policy announced in
1987. The policy addresses the complex issue of child labour in a comprehensive,
holistic and integrated manner. The action plan under this policy is multi-pronged and
mainly consists of:
A legislative action plan;

10

http://labour.nic.in

-7 Focuses on general development programmes for the benefit of the families of

children; and
Project-based action plan in areas of high concentration of child labour11.

National Child Labour Project Scheme

For rehabilitation of child labour, Government had initiated the National Child
Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme in 1988 to rehabilitate working children in 12 child
labour endemic districts of the country. Its coverage has increased progressively to
cover 271 districts in the country presently. As on date the Scheme is in operation in
266 districts.
Under the NCLP Scheme, children are withdrawn form work and put into special
schools, where they are provided with bridging education, vocational training, mid-day
meal, stipend, health-care facilities etc. and finally mainstreamed to the formal
education system. At present, there are around 7,000 NCLP schools being run in the
country with an enrolment of three lakh children. Till date more than 9 lakh working
children have already been mainstreamed to regular education under the NCLP
Scheme.
The NCLP scheme is a Central Sector scheme.

Under the scheme, project

societies are set up at the district level under the Chairpersonship of the Collector/
District Magistrate for overseeing the implementation of the project.

Instructions to

12

involve civil society and NGOs have also been issued .

The number of child labourers rescued, rehabilitated and mainstreamed through
National Child Labour Project Scheme during 2009 To December 2012, State-wise is
given in Annexure-III.

11
12

op.cit., Annual Report, pp. 91-92

Ibid

-8Convergence with Programmes of Other Ministries/Departments

Convergence of services from different government departments is one of the
key components of the NCLP which leads to the overall success of the programme. The
NCLPs make efforts to utilise the services of other departments at various levels. Most
important among the different departments has been the Department of Education.
Since different forms of child labour cannot be ended only by improving school
enrolment and educational rehabilitation, efforts for improvement of socio-economic
environment of the child labour families will be strengthened. Some of the prominent
schemes of these Ministries/department, which could have an explicit component for
child labour and their family are given below and could be utilized for government
interventions for elimination of child labour. This is however, only an indicative list and
could be extended to others programmes to:
a) Schemes of Department of Education

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)

Mid Day Meal Scheme

b) Schemes of Ministry of Women & Child Development:

ICPS scheme For providing food and shelter to the children withdrawn from work
through their schemes of Shelter Homes, etc
Balika Samridhi Yojana and admission of children withdrawn from into residential
schools under SC/ST/OBC Schemes.

c) Schemes of Ministry of Rural Development

Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Swarnjayanti Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY)
Indira Awas Yojana (IAY)

d) Scheme of Ministry of Labour & Employment

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY)

Skilled Development Initiative Scheme (SDIS)

e) Other Social security schemes

Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme

-9

National Family Benefit Scheme

Janani Suraksha Yojna
Handloom Weavers Comprehensive Welfare Scheme
Handicraft Artsans Comprehensive Welfare Scheme
Pension to Master craft persons
National scheme for Welfare of Fishermen and Training and Extension
of Janashree Bima Yojana

As poverty and illiteracy are the prime reasons for child labour, a combined and
coordinated effort of the various departments would greatly help to mitigate this
problem. The National Policy on Child Labour, prescribes the need to focus on general
development programmes for the benefit of the families of child Labour. Providing
income generation opportunities to the parents of child labour would enable them to
send their children to school rather than work. Moreover, encouraging the parents of the
working children to form Self Help Groups (SHGs). This would also help to bring
children from these families to the fold of education13.

Elimination of Child Labour in India Coordination with ILO

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) launched the International
Programme for Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in the year 1991 with the objective to
end child labour globally. India was the first country to sign the Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) in the year 1992. During the 11th Plan Period, three Projects viz.,
INDUS Project, Andhra Pradesh Phase-II &Karnataka Project were implemented in the
country under ILO-IPEC. Jointly funded by the Ministry of Labour, Government of India
and the Department of Labour, United States of America (USDOL), the INDUS Child
Labour Project was implemented in ten hazardous sectors in 21 districts across five
states viz. Delhi (NCT Delhi), Maharashtra (Districts of Amravati, Jalna, Aurangabad,
Gondia and Mumbai Suburban), Madhya Pradesh (Districts of Damoh, Sagar, Jabalpur,
Satna and Katni), Tamil Nadu (Districts of Kanchipuram, Thiruvannamallai, Tiruvallur,
Nammakkal and Virudhunagar) and Uttar Pradesh(Districts of Moradabad , Allahabad,

13

Government of India, Planning Commission, Working Group for Social inclusion of Vulnerable Group
th
like Child Labour and Bonded and Migrant Labour in the 12 Five Year Plan (2012-17)

-10Kanpur Nagar, Aligarh and Ferozabad). The project adopted a participatory method to
identify beneficiaries and enrolling child workers in schools, transitional education
centres and vocational training centres was seen as a key strategy for rehabilitation of
child and adolescent workers withdrawn from work. The project was instrumental in the
operationalising the public education component in the field. The Project also developed
income generation strategies for child labour elimination by linking child labour families
with the ongoing government schemes that provide access to micro credit and
subsidies. The project has systematically worked at developing a comprehensive
multipronged communication strategy. A variety of tools have been developed to aid
awareness raising efforts at the field level. Through its Action Programmes, the INDUS
project worked towards sensitizing and building capacities of key government agencies
and civil society partners in project states on child labour. The project, through an action
research to study the occupational health and safety made efforts to develop interim
solutions to protect adolescents and young adults from hazards at work places. The
project has also operationalised a beneficiary tracking system, for tracking and following
up on the progress of all project beneficiaries. Through this project, an estimated
103,152 children and adolescent workers were withdrawn and rehabilitated. The Project
was concluded in March 200914.

Conclusion
Government has accordingly been taking proactive steps to tackle this problem
through strict enforcement of legislative provisions along with simultaneous
rehabilitative measures. State Governments, which are the appropriate implementing
authorities, have been conducting regular inspections and raids to detect cases of
violations. Since poverty is the root cause of this problem, and enforcement alone
cannot help solve it, Government has been laying a lot of emphasis on the rehabilitation
of these children and on improving the economic conditions of their families15.

14

Government of India, Planning Commission, Working Group for Social inclusion of Vulnerable Group
th
like Child Labour and Bonded and Migrant Labour in the 12 Five Year Plan (2012-17)
15
http://labour.nic.in

-11Annexure-I
Data on Child Labour based on Employment Unemployment Survey
During NSS 66th Round (2009-10)16
Sr. No.

Major State all India

Age Group 5-14

Rural
Male

Female

Male

Female

88156

110191

20767

15548

1.

Andhra Pradesh

2.

Assam

144655

31909

11833

757

3.

Bihar

224292

38665

11017

2548

4.

Chhattisgarh

3669

7321

636

5.

Delhi

18576

6.

Gujarat

150487

207973

15945

16282

7.

Haryana

22664

17471

28073

3988

8.

Himachal Pradesh

2300

2942

2156

9.

Jammu & Kashmir

11274

16872

1139

10.

Jharkhand

63684

14661

4123

11.

Karnataka

89796

113429

20793

2479

12.

Kerala

1182

1583

13.

Madhya Pradesh

91454

32812

57688

9063

14.

Maharashtra

66370

127996

54230

12077

15.

Orissa

54390

38288

36522

5363

16.

Punjab

16802

6433

15664

9937

17.

Rajasthan

93055

261871

43184

7826

18.

Tamil Nadu

13880

3471

19.

Uttarakhand

14810

7239

3219

2103

20.

Uttar Pradesh

1012294

546320

147820

68899

21.

West Bengal

357265

134657

31946

27716

2511101 1727271

546897

198602

All India

16

Urban

Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2128, dated 12.12.2012

Annexure-II
Part-A
List of Occupations Processes prohibited under the Act
1)

Transport of passengers, goods or mails by railways;

2)

Cinder picking, clearing of an ash pit or building operation in the railway premises;

3)

Work in a catering establishment at a railway station, involving the movement of a

vendor or any other employee of the establishment from the one platform to another or
in to or out of a moving train;

4)

Work relating to the construction of a railway station or with any other work where such
work is done in close proximity to or between the railway lines;

5)

A port authority within the limits of any port;

6)

Work relating to selling of crackers and fireworks in shops with temporary licenses;

7)

Abattoirs/Slaughter House;

8)

Automobile workshops and garages;

9)

Foundries;

10)

Handling of toxic or inflammable substances or explosives;

11)

Handloom and power loom industry;

12)

Mines (underground and under water) and collieries;

13)

Plastic units and fibreglass workshops;

14)

Domestic workers or servants;

15)

Dhabas (roadside eateries), restaurants, hotels, motels, tea shops, resorts, spas or
other recreational centers; and

16)

Diving.

17)

Caring of elephant.

18)

Working in the circus17.

17

Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2669 dated 10.12.2012

-13Part B
Processes (Industrial Activity)
1)

Beedi-making.

2)

Carpet-weaving including preparatory and incidental process thereof;

3)

Cement manufacture, including bagging of cement.

4)

Cloth printing, dyeing and weaving including processes preparatory and incidental
thereto:

5)

Manufacture of matches, explosives and fire-works.

6)

Mica-cutting and splitting.

7)

Shellac manufacture.

8)

Soap manufacture.

9)

Tanning.

10)

Wool-cleaning.

11)

Building and construction industry including processing and polishing of granite

stones`

12)

Manufacture of slate pencils (including packing).

13)

Manufacture of products from agate.

14)

Manufacturing processes using toxic metals and substances such as lead, mercury,
manganese, chromium, cadmium, benzene, pesticides and asbestos.

15)

`Hazardous processes` as defined in Sec. 2 (cb) and `dangerous operation` as notice

in rules made under section 87 of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948)

16)

(16) Printing as defined in Section 2(k) (iv) of the Factories Act, 1948 (63

17)

Cashew and cashewnut descaling and processing.

18)

Soldering processes in electronic industries.

19)

Aggarbatti` manufacturing.

20)

Automobile repairs and maintenance including processes incidental thereto namely,

welding, lathe work, dent beating and painting.

of 1948)

-14-

21)

Brick kilns and Roof tiles units.

22)

Cotton ginning and processing and production of hosiery goods.

23)

Detergent manufacturing.

24)

Fabrication workshops (ferrous and non ferrous)

25)

Gem cutting and polishing.

26)

Handling of chromites and manganese ores.

27)

Jute textile manufacture and coir making.

28)

Lime Kilns and Manufacture of Lime.

29)

Lock Making.

30)

Manufacturing processes having exposure to lead such as primary and secondary

smelting, welding and cutting of lead-painted metal constructions, welding of
galvanized or zinc silicate, polyvinyl chloride, mixing (by hand) of crystal glass mass,
sanding or scraping of lead paint, burning of lead in enamelling workshops, lead
mining, plumbing, cable making, wiring patenting, lead casting, type founding in
printing shops. Store typesetting, assembling of cars, shot making and lead glass
blowing.

31)

Manufacture of cement pipes, cement products and other related work.

32)

Manufacture of glass, glass ware including bangles, florescent tubes, bulbs and other
similar glass products.

33)

Manufacture of dyes and dye stuff.

34)

Manufacturing or handling of pesticides and insecticides.

35)

Manufacturing or processing and handling of corrosive and toxic substances, metal

cleaning and photo engraving and soldering processes in electronic industry.

36)

Manufacturing of burning coal and coal briquettes.

37)

Manufacturing of sports goods involving exposure to synthetic materials, chemicals

and leather.

38)

Moulding and processing of fiberglass and plastic.

39)

Oil expelling and refinery.

-1540)

Paper making.

41)

Potteries and ceramic industry.

42)

Polishing, moulding, cutting, welding and manufacturing of brass goods in all forms.

43)

Processes in agriculture where tractors, threshing and harvesting machines are used
and chaff cutting.

44)

Saw mill - all processes.

45)

Sericulture processing.

46)

Skinning, dyeing and processes for manufacturing of leather and leather products.

47)

Stone breaking and stone crushing.

48)

Tobacco processing including manufacturing of tobacco, tobacco paste and handling

of tobacco in any form.

49)

Tyre making, repairing, re-treading and graphite beneficiation.

50)

Utensils making, polishing and metal buffing.

51)

`Zari` making (all processes)`.

52)

Electroplating;

53)

Graphite powdering and incidental processing;

54)

Grinding or glazing of metals;

55)

Diamond cutting and polishing;

56)

Extraction of slate from mines;

57)

Rag picking and scavenging;

58)

Processes involving exposure to excessive heat (e.g. working near furnace) and cold;

59)

Mechanised fishing;

60)

Food Processing;

61)

Beverage Industry;

62)

Timber handling and loading;

-1663)

Mechanical Lumbering;

64)

Warehousing;

65)

Processes involving exposure to free silica such as slate, pencil industry, stone
grinding, slate stone mining, stone quarries, and agate industry.

-17Annexure-III
Number of child labourers rescued, rehabilitated and
mainstreamed through National Child Labour Project scheme
during the last three years and current year, State-wise
No. of children Mainstreamed
Sl.
No.

State

1 Assam
2 Andhra Pradesh

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13 Up to
Dec. 2012

3685
13689

274
1858

227
13202

10848
7840

7998
1063
1437
1354
Nil

8552
5164
2129
1293
43

19673
4914
609
1895
184

1162
2004
569
1722
132

8 Jharkhand

1816

1015

2216

4003

9 Karnataka

3217

135

3761

742

10 Maharashtra

5,150

5113

4532

4328

11 Madhya Pradesh

9,692

13344

17589

5044

10,585
1,023
12,326
6,321

14416
123
4415
6325

13196
168
1020
5127

10309
0
4155
3537

16 Uttar Pradesh

40,297

28243

29947

10617

17 West Bengal

13,187

2215

7456

3117

3
4
5
6
7

12
13
14
15

Bihar
Chhattisgarh
Gujarat
Haryana
Jammu & Kashmir

Orissa
Punjab
Rajasthan
Tamil Nadu

Source: Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 191 dated 11.3.2013